


Haircut

by shadowstrangle



Category: Naruto
Genre: Again, Fluff, GaaLee Bingo 2020, Intimacy, M/M, Tooth Rotting Fluff, gaara won't let him cut it, gaara's hair curls in the summertime, haircut, lee thinks it's cute, until he does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27057130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowstrangle/pseuds/shadowstrangle
Summary: Truthfully, though? Gaara’s looking a little scruffy, no matter how cute the curls are. So, as Lee starts to get up and out of bed, he decides that today is the day. No matter what, today Gaara will let Lee give him a haircut. And just imagine how charming he’ll look after!~[lee thinking about how fond he is of gaara's curly hair, gaara making coffee at 3 AM, lee lovingly telling his boyfriend that said curly hair is getting too long, and gaara finally letting him cut it.]Written for GaaLee Bingo 2020 - curly hair!
Relationships: Gaara/Rock Lee
Comments: 11
Kudos: 73
Collections: GaaLee Bingo





	Haircut

**Author's Note:**

> hehehe this was inspired by [this fanart by itsneverteddy on tumblr!](https://itsneverteddy.tumblr.com/post/632095869961977856/curlcurly-hair-for-gaalee-bingo-asdfghjkl)
> 
> anyways because I can't stop writing GaaLee fluff in the morning, here you all go

Gaara has not made it a secret that he despises Konoha’s humidity. It makes him toss and turn at night (more than usual,) he has to wear short sleeves (he hates his long sleeve sticking to his skin) and he’s sweating  _ all the goddamn time.  _

Unlike the desert, there’s no relief from it at night. In fact, it’s even more infuriating to him. Little things like the weather are enough to ruin his day. As much as he pretends that he is, Gaara isn’t laid back. He’s the result of a spoiled child and an unsocialized one at that. No matter how hard he tries, he’s generally a finicky person. Lee is often hyperaware of this. 

As a result, when he visits Lee in the summer, Gaara rarely sleeps a wink. That would explain why he’s downstairs at three in the morning- Lee can hear him puttering around in the kitchen- having decided that he’s ready to start the day. Any other normal person would probably be livid, but considering Lee usually wakes up around half past four, he’s simply decided to have an early start as well. 

In the first few days that Lee had watched him grumble and complain, he honestly wished he could do something to help more than anything. However, there’s one thing that he selfishly loves about it: in Konoha’s humidity, Gaara has curly hair. It’s not so much tight curls, just loopy waves that scrunch up with the moisture in the air. The last time he had remotely worn it like that, it had been the Chunin exams. Nowadays, the dry desert climate keeps it straight and shaggy. 

Lee has a myriad of reasons for being fascinated by Gaara’s curly hair, but two champion the rest. One, Lee is effervescently in love with him. This is usually the explanation of a lot: why he makes Gaara’s curry a little bit less spicy, keeps an extra blanket for him when he visits in the winter (his lover runs cold), insists that Gaara eat at least one vegetable per day when they’re together (he swears Gaara can run on coffee and jerky and that’s  _ just not okay. _ ) 

Two, it could be the fact that his own hair has been stick-straight for as long as he can remember. He remembers even Gaara had mentioned that he was jealous of it at one point.  _ You are effortlessly neat and it’s incredibly attractive, _ he’d said. Gaara’s compliments never went out of style, and he always made sure to let Lee know that he  _ absolutely should never have a reason to be insecure. _

It’s also getting long. For as long as they’ve been together, which has been a collection of years by now, Lee thinks he’s seen Gaara with a fresh haircut maybe three or four times. It grows slowly, yes, but Gaara will often wait until the very last minute, until it grows unruly and unkempt and falls into his eyes. Then, he’ll crop it stupidly short and wait for it to grow back all over again. This is appalling to Lee, who keeps his hair cut in a straight line roughly every two to three weeks. 

Lee believes Gaara was used to this as a child- practically an orphan himself. He doubts Gaara’s father took much time to groom his demon child. Lee wonders if the sand would have even let somebody past him to do it. 

It’s charming, though, because on the other hand, Gaara has meticulously cut the front of Lee’s bangs before. At first, he was vehemently against it- citing that he didn’t know how to cut hair and didn’t want to be the reason someone messed Lee’s up. But after Lee had reassured him that  _ a line really isn’t that hard, Gaara,  _ he doesn’t mind so much. He does it carefully, making sure Lee looks perfect, keeping the straight line Lee admires the most. But every time when Lee offers to do it in response, Gaara will hit him with a straightforward “no.”

Truthfully, though? Gaara’s looking a little scruffy, no matter how cute the curls are. So, as Lee starts to get up and out of bed, he decides that today is the day. No matter what, today Gaara will let Lee give him a haircut. And just imagine how charming he’ll look after!

As the smell of coffee wafts up the stairs, Lee decides it’s probably time to go join Gaara instead of thinking about how precious he is. He’s right downstairs, Lee reminds himself. The distance makes him used to fantasizing. But now, he has a preposition! And he must go downstairs. 

Lee has foregone a shirt and pants, dressed in only some green boxers. “Good morning,” he chirps, and watches curiously as Gaara’s bare shoulders jolt. It’s usually difficult to spook Gaara as he has amazing sensory abilities, but Lee’s chakra isn’t exactly the strongest, so he pulls one over on Gaara every now and then. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to be up yet,” Gaara says, turning from the counter. “Did I wake you?”

Lee dodges his question out of love. “I was going to wake up soon anyway. An earlier start never hurts. Plus, if I wake up earlier  _ now, _ it’s all the more time I get to spend with you.”

Gaara just smiles, shaking his head and turning back to the counter to focus on the coffee. Lee is dizzy with love sometimes, bursting at the seams with it. Gaara wonders every now and then how he ever became worthy enough to receive it. 

Determined not to be upstaged by a pot of coffee, Lee comes up from behind to wind his arms around Gaara’s waist, Lee’s head resting atop his. “Do you know why it’s such a good morning, Gaara-kun?”

Four years. They’ve been together four years, and despite Gaara constantly asking, Lee has never dropped his occasional use of the nickname. “Why is that?” Gaara asks. He makes an attempt at being nonchalant, pouring two mugs of coffee, but there’s red dusting across his cheeks. 

“Because I woke up and you’re here,” Lee says simply, gives him an extra squeeze, and Gaara falls in love all over again. 

There’s only one person that would be remotely okay with Gaara making coffee at three thirty in the morning, and that’s Lee. In fact, he’s happy about it. 

“Would you like sugar?” Gaara asks.

Lee can’t see his face from where he’s standing, but he can hear a smile in Gaara’s voice and that’s enough for him. “Yes, please.” He finally peels off to give Gaara room to move, watching as he stirs three spoonfuls of sugar into Lee’s coffee and none into his own. 

Lee also watches, rather humorously, how when Gaara tips his head forward he has to constantly brush his hair out of his eyes. Something definitely needs to be done, no matter how darling Lee thinks he looks. 

“Gaara-kun,” he pipes up again, once Gaara has set two mugs of coffee on the table and had time to properly roll his eyes. 

“Hmm?”

“I would like to start with reminding you that you are the most handsome person I have ever laid my eyes on,” Lee begins, clasping his hands together. 

“Are you about to break up with me or something?” Gaara deadpans, and Lee flounders.

“No! No, no. Nothing of the sort. Why would you-- anyway,” Lee has to remind himself to stay off topic. 

“It just sounded like--”

“We aren’t breaking up. I was  _ going  _ to say that although you are the most handsome person I have ever laid my eyes on, I think your hair is getting a bit… long,” Lee says. “And if you would like a trim, so it doesn’t fall in your eyes, I would be happy to volunteer my assistance.”

Gaara blinks at him across his cup of coffee. He’s holding it with two hands, looking over at Lee through tiny plumes of steam. “No.”

Just as Lee had predicted. 

“Just a trim!” Lee insists. 

“Perhaps when I go home.”

“But what’s the difference? I promise you I’ll be very precise.”

Gaara takes a long sip of coffee. “The only person who has not died or been critically injured trying to cut my hair is Temari. Mm, and my uncle, but it’s been a while for that. And it ended quite ironically, didn’t it?”

Lee’s lips open and close with a lack of a response. Gaara’s favorite logical answer is to be incredibly vague with no follow-up, especially over something so morbid. As expected, Gaara will not tell him why unless he pushes for it. “Why would that be?”

Gaara yawns, stretching his legs out under the table. Lee will never understand how he can be so casual during conversations like this. “When I was younger, the sand wouldn’t even let my father touch me because I had been so accustomed to fearing him. Naturally, letting a stranger near me with a pair of scissors wasn’t happening. I assume you know where this is going.” 

He supposes he doesn’t have to elaborate on what happened to multiple hairdressers when he was a child. He sips at his coffee again like they’re having a fireside chat and continues. “That, and I hate haircuts. They make me unnecessarily anxious, I hate people telling me how to sit and what to do, and they take a long time.”

Gaara, in all his awkward fashion, has answered every inch of Lee’s question. However, Lee certainly wasn’t expecting this to be the answer, and it makes his eyes soften. He almost regrets asking. Four years, and he still learns new things about Gaara every day. 

Lee purses his lips thoughtfully over coffee. He always has to be careful talking to Gaara like this. He doesn’t like to be coddled, and he also doesn’t like to get emotional if they’re not having a serious conversation. Lee has no reason to put him in a sour mood for the rest of the day. He understands that Gaara’s trauma is, before all else, exhausting for him. “What if,” he begins, “I gave you the fastest haircut you’ve ever received?”

Gaara snorts. “Lee, no.”

“Look at who you’re talking to. I’ll take off my weights. And you can move as much as you want!” Lee continues. “And sit however you like! You can even stand up--”

“I will never voluntarily put you in danger,” Gaara says finally. He crosses one leg over the other. 

“If the sand comes out, we’ll stop. I just.. Don’t think it will,” Lee confesses, shrugging. 

“Why’s that?”

“I trust you,” he says simply. “And you trust me.” Sometimes, even unconsciously, Lee takes it upon himself to remind Gaara that he’s not who he was decades ago. Nobody can compare themselves to where they were morally as a child. 

Gaara knows Lee has a point- perhaps he’s taking a childhood fear into adulthood. His control over the sand now is immeasurable, as well as the even larger fact that he’s no longer a Jinchuuriki. He’s still quiet as he finishes another sip of coffee. “Just please don’t nick the top of my ear,” he says, and Lee’s face breaks into a grin. 

“You’re going to look so handsome!”

“Am I not already?”

“That’s not what I  _ meant! _ ”

~

Gaara finally leaves Lee with the promise that if he goes and does his morning training, Gaara will be ready for a haircut when he comes home. This is mostly because he knows Lee will be willing to start at four AM sharp, and Gaara honestly just wants to enjoy his morning coffee for now (or night coffee. He hasn’t slept.)

It’s also because Gaara likes to clean Lee’s kitchen. Lee isn’t messy in the slightest, and Gaara’s actually predominantly messy in his own home in Suna, but there’s something therapeutic about having Lee come home to somewhere nice and peaceful. Additionally, it gives Gaara something to do (his off days are wondrously boring whenever Lee is busy.)

Lee comes breezing in at half past eight, drenched in sweat (he probably ran home) and incredibly excited. He yells that he’s going to take a shower and that then he’ll be ready, and that Gaara should not join because  _ I read that curly hair should be cut when it is dry!  _

As promised, Gaara is waiting in the kitchen when Lee comes back. He still hasn’t bothered to put a shirt on, as he doesn’t want it covered with hair. Lee has been dashing back and forth between the bathroom and the kitchen, fetching things like a towel for Gaara’s shoulders, a comb, a pair of scissors. He’s far too excited for this. 

Gaara is tense, seated in a kitchen chair that Lee has pulled to the middle of the floor (it will make it easier to sweep hair off of it later.) 

Even amidst his childish excitement, Lee can sense Gaara’s nervousness. “Gaara,” he says, pausing in draping a towel over his shoulders, “I know I am pushy, but you don’t have to do this just to please me.”

“I’m not,” Gaara admits, closing his eyes. “You’re right. I trust you. And I’m acting like a child.”

“You have many valid reasons to be wary, you know,” Lee reminds him gently, “and I hope you know I adore whatever length your hair is.”

“I appreciate you insinuating that I’m scruffy, actually. It keeps you honest,” Gaara laughs. 

Lee takes this laugh as a measure of reassurance, and pats the towel around Gaara’s shoulders. He watches Gaara’s hands, which are set on his thighs. They fidget nervously, and then he tucks them into his sides, crosses his arms as if to keep sand at bay. Gaara’s gourd is safely tucked away upstairs, but Lee hears no sign of it.

“Let me know if you want a break,” Lee offers, and Gaara nods. 

Experimentally, Lee snips a piece of Gaara’s hair off the back of his head, and waits. There is no rush of sand barreling down the stairs, and no negative reaction from Gaara thus far. “Look. You’re doing great,” he says, holding out the red tuft in his hand. 

“I thought you said it would be quick,” Gaara hums, closing his eyes. 

With that, Lee gets to work. 

It is like cutting a child’s hair. Gaara is constantly moving, shifting his position. Annoyance flickers over his face whenever Lee tilts his head a certain way, but the principal thing of this moment is that Gaara doesn’t have to worry about any sand interrupting. 

“I know you can’t see yet,” Lee murmurs with a smile, as he comes around to Gaara’s front to snip at his bangs, “but I think you look very handsome.”

He’s purposely made it not too short- Gaara will probably throw a fit if it’s too different. It’s just enough so it stays out of his eyes, not awkward looking. It frames Gaara’s face nicely, and Lee sweeps it to the side the same way Gaara always does. 

“You think?” Gaara asks lightly.

“Absolutely,” Lee confirms. “I’m almost done.”

Lee had been true to his word. The haircut lasts maybe ten minutes at most, before Lee is dumping the remainder of the hair onto the floor and declaring, “Ta-da!”

Gaara runs his hands through it. It’s noticeably shorter, but practical. “Can I see?”

Lee is one step ahead of him, holding out a handheld mirror. “What do you think? You can tell me if you don’t like it. I won’t be offended.” He’ll probably be offended. 

Gaara smiles warmly as he looks at his reflection, and then tilts his head back to look up at Lee from the chair. “Thank you, Lee. It looks great.”

“Really?!” 

“Really.”

“I was so worried!”

It seems that one by one, Lee replaces all of his bad memories with good ones. He filters all of Gaara’s toxins out; he is the very antidote. 

“I knew it would look nice,” Gaara says. He stands up, brushing some stray hairs off of his shoulders. “You always try your best in everything you do.”

Lee looks like he’s going to burst. “That is  _ so sweet--” _

“It’s true.”

Lee is pouting soulfully now, primarily because his heart is so full but also because Gaara looks so  _ nice.  _

“What? What’s that face?” Gaara teases. 

Predictably, Lee is throwing his arms around him, so much so that Gaara nearly loses his balance. “Thank you for trusting me,” is what he says while Gaara’s arms make their way around his neck. 

“If not you, then who?” Gaara hums with a smile, chin tilted up slightly to look at Lee. He’s a good head taller no matter how old they get, and Gaara has to lean up to press their lips together. 

Lee feels like he’s accomplished something, overcome with all this warmth and appreciation, filled with fond when Gaara’s lips are against his. 

Gaara had initially intended on a chaste kiss, but he doesn’t have any intention of pulling away now that he’s melted right into Lee. Especially not since Lee’s hand is cradling his jaw now, and Gaara’s hands have gently slipped down to rest against his chest. 

“Do I look as handsome as I feel?” Gaara asks against Lee’s lips. His tone is playful, but Lee detects a hint of seriousness as well. 

“Even better than that,” Lee responds, pulling back to hold Gaara’s face in his hands. “So much so that I think we should discuss it upstairs.”

“Do you mean--”

Lee cuts him off with a peck on the lips and shakes his head. “Let the innuendo be, Gaara-kun.”

**Author's Note:**

> I think I could listen to them talk over morning coffee all day to be completely honest  
> come say hello at @shadowstrangle on tumblr!


End file.
